This topichttps://community.bt.com/t5/Archive-Staging/Extra-Box-Multiroom-No-more-than-2-boxes/m-p/1413385#M592701
<P>You are correct Colin, on those counts:</P><P>&nbsp;</P><P>1. Lack of Sky Sports on Youview &gt; Sky</P><P>2. Inability to have multiroom when subscribing to Sky Movies &gt; Sky</P><P>3. Inability to use no more than 2 boxes when subscribed to multiroom &gt; BT</P><P>4. No Chromecast on BT TV app and no more than 2 device &gt; BT (and no doubt some rights arguement - sounds like Sky Go eh, unless you stump up for Sky go extra and these things go away by magic)</P><P>&nbsp;</P><P>What concerns me, if Sky has to alllow BT the rights to offer SS1/2 (&amp;5?) and you subscribe; will you also then lose the ability to have multiroom? If so, this could be a deal breaker for me but I suspect many others.</P><P>&nbsp;</P><P>It is all very frustrating, I really hope BT can address these issues or at the very least provide some sort of roadmap. Personally I'd like to know:</P><P>1. Will multiroom be extended beyond the 2 box hard stop limit? (Perhaps 1 or 2 x G4 and 1 or 2 x basic yv box)</P><P>2. Will SS1/2 (&amp;5?) be available on multiroom? HD available?</P><P>3. Is there any likelyhood of a deal between BT/Sky to allow Movies on multiroom?</P><P>4. Will Chromecast come to the BT TV app and perhaps the device limit raised to 4?</P><P>5. New channels coming? Any more HD content?</P><P>6. Future of BT "Player" &gt; consolidation to Netflix or keep two services simultaneously?</P><P>7. DLNA functionalty update to Youview platform now that the G4 has the necessary HW resources?</P><P>&nbsp;</P><P>I'm sure there are many others but I can't think of them right now.</P><P>&nbsp;</P><P>&gt;mark</P>Tue, 18 Nov 2014 12:53:39 GMTRed_Snow2014-11-18T12:53:39ZExtra Box (Multiroom) - No more than 2 boxes?https://community.bt.com/t5/Archive-Staging/Extra-Box-Multiroom-No-more-than-2-boxes/m-p/1339099#M592682
<P>For some time I've had 3 youview boxes running, 1 downstairs and 2 in the bedrooms. This all worked perfectly well although Bt did not officially support this. I was very happy with this system and one of the main reasons I chose over $ky and Virgin. &nbsp;</P><P>&nbsp;</P><P>Then for commercial reasons, BT jumped on the multiroom bandwagon and charged £99 for a new box (tho I didn't need it) and a fiver a month to switch on multiroom. Ok I thought, no problem and I understand the charging and if my setup of 3 boxes continues to work then I'll go for it.</P><P>&nbsp;</P><P>However what really disappoints is that my 3rd box can no longer get the extra IP channels that I pay for!!! It's clear that BT check how many boxes you are using. Why? If I accept that more than 2 boxes is not officially supported but know that it works perfectly well, why impose a 2 box hard stop when I pay for multiroom? This now effectively kills the point of multiroom, more like dual room which I can get with Sky or Virgin with more choice and faster broadband.</P><P>&nbsp;</P><P>Why BT can I not use my third box? This kind of forces me to assess my TV and broadband options whereas I WAS perfectly happy with BT!</P>Sun, 10 Aug 2014 19:34:28 GMThttps://community.bt.com/t5/Archive-Staging/Extra-Box-Multiroom-No-more-than-2-boxes/m-p/1339099#M592682Red_Snow2014-08-10T19:34:28ZRe: Extra Box (Multiroom) - No more than 2 boxes?https://community.bt.com/t5/Archive-Staging/Extra-Box-Multiroom-No-more-than-2-boxes/m-p/1347503#M592683
<P>I see from the BT Hepl that it now states:</P><P>&nbsp;</P><P><SPAN>Your BT TV services are delivered through your broadband connection, so additional boxes increase the reliance on broadband speed. We have limited Extra Box to two boxes to ensure you get the best possible experience.</SPAN></P><P>&nbsp;</P><P><SPAN>However my connection speeds and 500AV adapters were just fine for 3 boxes, so is there any way to allow 3? perhaps a MOD can answer this pls?</SPAN></P>Tue, 19 Aug 2014 11:39:27 GMThttps://community.bt.com/t5/Archive-Staging/Extra-Box-Multiroom-No-more-than-2-boxes/m-p/1347503#M592683Red_Snow2014-08-19T11:39:27ZRe: Extra Box (Multiroom) - No more than 2 boxes?https://community.bt.com/t5/Archive-Staging/Extra-Box-Multiroom-No-more-than-2-boxes/m-p/1347525#M592684
<P>Good question. I presume it is purely a commercial decision rather than a technical one.</P><P>&nbsp;</P><P>Stew</P>Tue, 19 Aug 2014 12:18:13 GMThttps://community.bt.com/t5/Archive-Staging/Extra-Box-Multiroom-No-more-than-2-boxes/m-p/1347525#M592684StewM2014-08-19T12:18:13ZRe: Extra Box (Multiroom) - No more than 2 boxes?https://community.bt.com/t5/Archive-Staging/Extra-Box-Multiroom-No-more-than-2-boxes/m-p/1349099#M592685
<P>I would have to guess so as I know my particular setup works very well (or did) with 3 boxes streaming HD.</P><P>&nbsp;</P><P>Perhaps BT should allow the additional boxes but make it perfectly clear that they accept no responsibilty for issues relating to a 3rd box.</P>Thu, 21 Aug 2014 11:32:00 GMThttps://community.bt.com/t5/Archive-Staging/Extra-Box-Multiroom-No-more-than-2-boxes/m-p/1349099#M592685Red_Snow2014-08-21T11:32:00ZRe: Extra Box (Multiroom) - No more than 2 boxes?https://community.bt.com/t5/Archive-Staging/Extra-Box-Multiroom-No-more-than-2-boxes/m-p/1349207#M592686
<P>Possibly it is due to way BT Retail are being charged by BT Wholesale for the TV Connect multicast TV service.</P><P>&nbsp;</P><P>However, the update at the bottom of&nbsp;<A target="_blank" href="http://www.thinkbroadband.com/news/5800-bt-tv-connect-service-to-carry-live-tv-channels-over-wbc-network.html">this article</A> suggests to me that the costs are determined by the number of channels available and the channel format rather than how many streamed copies are being fed to boxes? How do you read it?</P><P>&nbsp;</P><P>Also, do BT Retail pay BT Wholesale exactly the same for an FTTC broadband connection regardless of how much data passes through it, or is there also a usage charge?</P>Thu, 21 Aug 2014 14:18:25 GMThttps://community.bt.com/t5/Archive-Staging/Extra-Box-Multiroom-No-more-than-2-boxes/m-p/1349207#M592686umpire2014-08-21T14:18:25ZRe: Extra Box (Multiroom) - No more than 2 boxes?https://community.bt.com/t5/Archive-Staging/Extra-Box-Multiroom-No-more-than-2-boxes/m-p/1349409#M592687
<P>From what I remember, the requirement for two boxes was a minimum connection speed of 34 mbs, I assume this was to allow for upto 4 simultaneous HD channels (2 per box) and doing the sums this works out at 8.5 mbs per HD channel,</P><P>&nbsp;</P><P>Which may be a bit on the generous side, but if it was much lower, complaints would be forthcoming if problems occur, and it also probably includes an allowance for normal Internet use, browsing, games etc.&nbsp;</P><P>&nbsp;</P><P>Presumably if the number boxes were to be increased, a higher minimum connection speed will be required.&nbsp;</P><P>&nbsp;</P><P>&nbsp;</P>Thu, 21 Aug 2014 16:53:27 GMThttps://community.bt.com/t5/Archive-Staging/Extra-Box-Multiroom-No-more-than-2-boxes/m-p/1349409#M592687davidb002014-08-21T16:53:27ZRe: Extra Box (Multiroom) - No more than 2 boxes?https://community.bt.com/t5/Archive-Staging/Extra-Box-Multiroom-No-more-than-2-boxes/m-p/1349427#M592688
<P>If I remember rightly a TV Connect document posted on the web listed the following four example channel formats.</P><UL><LI>SD normal - 2.5Mbps</LI><LI>SD premium - 3.0Mbps</LI><LI>HD normal - 7.5Mbps</LI><LI>HD premium - 10.0Mbps</LI></UL><P>If BT TV used HD normal then two HD channels would match up with the minimum for Infinity connections (15Mbps). Add in a bit of contingency for other usage and you get the 17Mbps per box?</P><P>&nbsp;</P><P>However you could in theory record two multicast HD channels simultaneously and also watch an on-demand unicast HD stream via say BBC iPlayer at the same time. 17Mbps might struggle to support that, though the streams might be variable rate and running at well below the maximum rate required much of the time?</P>Thu, 21 Aug 2014 17:23:36 GMThttps://community.bt.com/t5/Archive-Staging/Extra-Box-Multiroom-No-more-than-2-boxes/m-p/1349427#M592688umpire2014-08-21T17:23:36ZRe: Extra Box (Multiroom) - No more than 2 boxes?https://community.bt.com/t5/Archive-Staging/Extra-Box-Multiroom-No-more-than-2-boxes/m-p/1349807#M592689
<P>This provides a business opportunity for BT, if they produced a dumb box, &nbsp;ie a single HD IP channel with freeview and possibly a bit of ram for pausing etc, three rooms could be catered for, one main youview+ box and two rooms with single channel terminals, all within the 34 mbs constraint.</P><P>&nbsp;</P><P>&nbsp;</P><P>&nbsp;</P>Fri, 22 Aug 2014 08:49:00 GMThttps://community.bt.com/t5/Archive-Staging/Extra-Box-Multiroom-No-more-than-2-boxes/m-p/1349807#M592689davidb002014-08-22T08:49:00ZRe: Extra Box (Multiroom) - No more than 2 boxes?https://community.bt.com/t5/Archive-Staging/Extra-Box-Multiroom-No-more-than-2-boxes/m-p/1349869#M592690
<BLOCKQUOTE><HR /><LI-USER uid="15941"></LI-USER> wrote:<BR /><P>This provides a business opportunity for BT, if they produced a dumb box, &nbsp;ie a single HD IP channel with freeview and possibly a bit of ram for pausing etc, three rooms could be catered for, one main youview+ box and two rooms with single channel terminals, all within the 34 mbs constraint.</P><HR /></BLOCKQUOTE><P>A sound idea, but in practice BT/Youview haven't exactly proved themselves to be great at developing and maintaining PVR software. I've been on the BT Vision+ box for many years and the New Look software in place most of the last two years has been poor quality from the start. Going by this forum the BT Youview+ software also seems to have its fair share of faults, bugs, annoyances, oversights, etc. The all too familiar phrase of 'let's hope this is fixed in the next release' keeps popping up!</P><P>&nbsp;</P><P>If they brought out a lower spec 'dumb' box (and I'm aware BT management have hinted at this in the past) then that would mean yet another hardware variant that the developers would have to cater for. Yet more scope for inconsistencies and faults. I say get rid of the BT Vision+ platform and try and get just one version of the software working well on one version of hardware first rather than adding more complexity. <img id="smileylol" class="emoticon emoticon-smileylol" src="https://community.bt.com/i/smilies/16x16_smiley-lol.png" alt="Smiley LOL" title="Smiley LOL" /></P><P>&nbsp;</P><P>Could they easily just limit the multicast streams to one on the existing box when used as a second box? It would still cost £99 though.</P>Fri, 22 Aug 2014 10:09:34 GMThttps://community.bt.com/t5/Archive-Staging/Extra-Box-Multiroom-No-more-than-2-boxes/m-p/1349869#M592690umpire2014-08-22T10:09:34ZRe: Extra Box (Multiroom) - No more than 2 boxes?https://community.bt.com/t5/Archive-Staging/Extra-Box-Multiroom-No-more-than-2-boxes/m-p/1350107#M592691
<P>For what is allegedly one of BTs flagship projects , it us unfortunate, to say the least, that sufficient resources cannot be found/allocated to sort out the existing problems. &nbsp;&nbsp;</P>Fri, 22 Aug 2014 14:29:05 GMThttps://community.bt.com/t5/Archive-Staging/Extra-Box-Multiroom-No-more-than-2-boxes/m-p/1350107#M592691davidb002014-08-22T14:29:05ZRe: Extra Box (Multiroom) - No more than 2 boxes?https://community.bt.com/t5/Archive-Staging/Extra-Box-Multiroom-No-more-than-2-boxes/m-p/1412207#M592692
<P>BT mods, any news or possibility of this happening?</P>Fri, 14 Nov 2014 23:06:57 GMThttps://community.bt.com/t5/Archive-Staging/Extra-Box-Multiroom-No-more-than-2-boxes/m-p/1412207#M592692Red_Snow2014-11-14T23:06:57ZRe: Extra Box (Multiroom) - No more than 2 boxes?https://community.bt.com/t5/Archive-Staging/Extra-Box-Multiroom-No-more-than-2-boxes/m-p/1412220#M592693
<P>One thing that does seem to have changed is the minimum internet speed for extra box has reduced from 34 to 23Mbps.</P>
<P>&nbsp;</P>
<P>&nbsp;</P>Fri, 14 Nov 2014 23:36:46 GMThttps://community.bt.com/t5/Archive-Staging/Extra-Box-Multiroom-No-more-than-2-boxes/m-p/1412220#M592693zulu172014-11-14T23:36:46ZRe: Extra Box (Multiroom) - No more than 2 boxes?https://community.bt.com/t5/Archive-Staging/Extra-Box-Multiroom-No-more-than-2-boxes/m-p/1412429#M592694
<P>The multiroom service now has the option to go for a mini Youview box as the 2nd box (£65 instead of £99?).</P><P>&nbsp;</P><P>I believe the mini Youview box DB-T2200 only has one tuner (see recombu review), so I assume can also only use one multicast channel at a time. This type of extra box set up would therefore not require the full 34Mbps. Could this be why they now state the minimum speed as 23Mbps?</P>Sat, 15 Nov 2014 17:25:54 GMThttps://community.bt.com/t5/Archive-Staging/Extra-Box-Multiroom-No-more-than-2-boxes/m-p/1412429#M592694umpire2014-11-15T17:25:54ZRe: Extra Box (Multiroom) - No more than 2 boxes?https://community.bt.com/t5/Archive-Staging/Extra-Box-Multiroom-No-more-than-2-boxes/m-p/1412432#M592695
<BLOCKQUOTE><HR /><LI-USER uid="15941"></LI-USER> wrote:<BR /><P>This provides a business opportunity for BT, if they produced a dumb box, &nbsp;ie a single HD IP channel with freeview and possibly a bit of ram for pausing etc, three rooms could be catered for, one main youview+ box and two rooms with single channel terminals, all within the 34 mbs constraint.</P><HR /></BLOCKQUOTE><P>Well you were certainly right about the first bit, but it seems BT currently still only allow a dual box set up for Extra Box.</P><P>Anyway, well done for correctly predicting half of the future (or were you part of the trial team? <img id="smileylol" class="emoticon emoticon-smileylol" src="https://community.bt.com/i/smilies/16x16_smiley-lol.png" alt="Smiley LOL" title="Smiley LOL" /> ).</P><P>&nbsp;</P>Sat, 15 Nov 2014 17:34:35 GMThttps://community.bt.com/t5/Archive-Staging/Extra-Box-Multiroom-No-more-than-2-boxes/m-p/1412432#M592695umpire2014-11-15T17:34:35ZRe: Extra Box (Multiroom) - No more than 2 boxes?https://community.bt.com/t5/Archive-Staging/Extra-Box-Multiroom-No-more-than-2-boxes/m-p/1412775#M592696
<BLOCKQUOTE><HR /><LI-USER uid="13371"></LI-USER> wrote:<BR /><P>The multiroom service now has the option to go for a mini Youview box as the 2nd box (£65 instead of £99?).&nbsp;</P><HR /></BLOCKQUOTE><P><STRONG>Correction:</STRONG></P><P>A BT Youview+ extra box is now £65.</P><P>A Mini BT Youview extra box is now £49.</P><P>&nbsp;</P><P>So they have reduced the price as I think it used to be £99 for the BT Youview+ extra box?&nbsp;</P>Sun, 16 Nov 2014 17:10:37 GMThttps://community.bt.com/t5/Archive-Staging/Extra-Box-Multiroom-No-more-than-2-boxes/m-p/1412775#M592696umpire2014-11-16T17:10:37ZRe: Extra Box (Multiroom) - No more than 2 boxes?https://community.bt.com/t5/Archive-Staging/Extra-Box-Multiroom-No-more-than-2-boxes/m-p/1412867#M592697
<P>The sign-up process makes clear the Youview+ box is a 'first generation Youview+ box, available for a limited period at a discounted price'.</P><P>&nbsp;</P><P>So that's why it's £65 now.</P>Sun, 16 Nov 2014 23:23:58 GMThttps://community.bt.com/t5/Archive-Staging/Extra-Box-Multiroom-No-more-than-2-boxes/m-p/1412867#M592697Colin_London2014-11-16T23:23:58ZRe: Extra Box (Multiroom) - No more than 2 boxes?https://community.bt.com/t5/Archive-Staging/Extra-Box-Multiroom-No-more-than-2-boxes/m-p/1412933#M592698
<BLOCKQUOTE><HR /><LI-USER uid="87281"></LI-USER> wrote:<BR /><P>The sign-up process makes clear the Youview+ box is a<SPAN style="text-decoration: underline;"><STRONG> 'first generation Youview+ box</STRONG></SPAN>, available for a limited period at a discounted price'.</P><P>&nbsp;</P><P>So that's why it's £65 now.</P><HR /></BLOCKQUOTE><P>And that's the reason I'm not going for it at the moment!</P><P>&nbsp;</P><P>I would have been OK spending £99 for the G4.</P>Mon, 17 Nov 2014 10:19:00 GMThttps://community.bt.com/t5/Archive-Staging/Extra-Box-Multiroom-No-more-than-2-boxes/m-p/1412933#M592698TimCurtis2014-11-17T10:19:00ZRe: Extra Box (Multiroom) - No more than 2 boxes?https://community.bt.com/t5/Archive-Staging/Extra-Box-Multiroom-No-more-than-2-boxes/m-p/1413160#M592699
<P>whats even more annoying is i have a spare G4 box in the bedroom which was running without issue, but now I cannot even subscribe to extra box as I have Sky Movies so its either one or the other!</P><P>&nbsp;</P><P>its a total farce this service. A new customer must be totally scratching their head if they select sky movies they lose the extra box, if they select sky sports they have to a go for a BT vision box.....the whole system is a joke...</P><P>&nbsp;</P><P>&nbsp;</P><P>until BT dump the vision box and have a coherent TV strategy I will be getting the bare minimum from them.....I cancelled the boxsets as they a pretty rubbish and although I was willing to pay extra for multiroom I can't due to the stupid licensing **bleep** by sky that is preventing this.</P>Mon, 17 Nov 2014 19:37:40 GMThttps://community.bt.com/t5/Archive-Staging/Extra-Box-Multiroom-No-more-than-2-boxes/m-p/1413160#M592699zarf20072014-11-17T19:37:40ZRe: Extra Box (Multiroom) - No more than 2 boxes?https://community.bt.com/t5/Archive-Staging/Extra-Box-Multiroom-No-more-than-2-boxes/m-p/1413254#M592700
<P>Blame Sky for both of these situations.</P><P>&nbsp;</P><P>At least in the case of Sky Sports the Competition Commission have found against Sky and hopefully Sky Sports 1,2 &amp; 5 will soon be available to BT Youview customers as well as BT Vision. They have been dragging things out for as long as they could, and your reaction to the situation is exactly&nbsp;how they hoped people would react - that BTs service is hobbled by the restrictions they have been able to impose on use of their own content.</P>Mon, 17 Nov 2014 22:48:36 GMThttps://community.bt.com/t5/Archive-Staging/Extra-Box-Multiroom-No-more-than-2-boxes/m-p/1413254#M592700Colin_London2014-11-17T22:48:36ZRe: Extra Box (Multiroom) - No more than 2 boxes?https://community.bt.com/t5/Archive-Staging/Extra-Box-Multiroom-No-more-than-2-boxes/m-p/1413385#M592701
<P>You are correct Colin, on those counts:</P><P>&nbsp;</P><P>1. Lack of Sky Sports on Youview &gt; Sky</P><P>2. Inability to have multiroom when subscribing to Sky Movies &gt; Sky</P><P>3. Inability to use no more than 2 boxes when subscribed to multiroom &gt; BT</P><P>4. No Chromecast on BT TV app and no more than 2 device &gt; BT (and no doubt some rights arguement - sounds like Sky Go eh, unless you stump up for Sky go extra and these things go away by magic)</P><P>&nbsp;</P><P>What concerns me, if Sky has to alllow BT the rights to offer SS1/2 (&amp;5?) and you subscribe; will you also then lose the ability to have multiroom? If so, this could be a deal breaker for me but I suspect many others.</P><P>&nbsp;</P><P>It is all very frustrating, I really hope BT can address these issues or at the very least provide some sort of roadmap. Personally I'd like to know:</P><P>1. Will multiroom be extended beyond the 2 box hard stop limit? (Perhaps 1 or 2 x G4 and 1 or 2 x basic yv box)</P><P>2. Will SS1/2 (&amp;5?) be available on multiroom? HD available?</P><P>3. Is there any likelyhood of a deal between BT/Sky to allow Movies on multiroom?</P><P>4. Will Chromecast come to the BT TV app and perhaps the device limit raised to 4?</P><P>5. New channels coming? Any more HD content?</P><P>6. Future of BT "Player" &gt; consolidation to Netflix or keep two services simultaneously?</P><P>7. DLNA functionalty update to Youview platform now that the G4 has the necessary HW resources?</P><P>&nbsp;</P><P>I'm sure there are many others but I can't think of them right now.</P><P>&nbsp;</P><P>&gt;mark</P>Tue, 18 Nov 2014 12:53:39 GMThttps://community.bt.com/t5/Archive-Staging/Extra-Box-Multiroom-No-more-than-2-boxes/m-p/1413385#M592701Red_Snow2014-11-18T12:53:39ZRe: Extra Box (Multiroom) - No more than 2 boxes?https://community.bt.com/t5/Archive-Staging/Extra-Box-Multiroom-No-more-than-2-boxes/m-p/1417767#M592702
<P>So , at the moment I currently use G4 box as my main box and I have an older box upstairs, as a freeview box . Are we saying that all it would cost me to have the extra channels is £5 per month and no further charges for an extra box , cos I have one <span class="lia-unicode-emoji" title=":beaming_face_with_smiling_eyes:">😁</span></P>Sun, 30 Nov 2014 11:54:35 GMThttps://community.bt.com/t5/Archive-Staging/Extra-Box-Multiroom-No-more-than-2-boxes/m-p/1417767#M592702wato2014-11-30T11:54:35ZRe: Extra Box (Multiroom) - No more than 2 boxes?https://community.bt.com/t5/Archive-Staging/Extra-Box-Multiroom-No-more-than-2-boxes/m-p/1417784#M592705
<BLOCKQUOTE><HR /><LI-USER uid="121078"></LI-USER> wrote:<BR />So , at the moment I currently use G4 box as my main box and I have an older box upstairs, as a freeview box . Are we saying that all it would cost me to have the extra channels is £5 per month and no further charges for an extra box , cos I have one <span class="lia-unicode-emoji" title=":beaming_face_with_smiling_eyes:">😁</span><HR /></BLOCKQUOTE><P>&nbsp;</P><P>Did you buy the older box yourself, or was it issued to you by BT as part of a BT TV contract? If it's a BT issued&nbsp;box then it can be used for the Extra Box service.</P><P>&nbsp;</P><P>See the questions 14 &amp; 17 at the bottom of this page.</P><P><A href="http://bt.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/48891/~/extra-box-with-bt-tv-everywhere" target="_self">http://bt.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/48891/~/extra-box-with-bt-tv-everywhere</A></P>Sun, 30 Nov 2014 11:53:31 GMThttps://community.bt.com/t5/Archive-Staging/Extra-Box-Multiroom-No-more-than-2-boxes/m-p/1417784#M592705umpire2014-11-30T11:53:31Z